Report

Teaching staff digital experience insights survey 2020: UK higher education findings

2,677 teaching staff from 14 universities took part in our digital experience insights survey conducted between October 2019 and July 2020.

Digital experience insights report front cover

In difficult times the higher education (HE) sector has demonstrated great resilience, determination, and a willingness to go the ‘extra mile’ to support students. The impact of COVID-19 and the rapid shift to online learning has been seismic for everyone, but particularly so for teaching staff and the students they support. While some organisations have a history of investment in their digital vision, pedagogy and infrastructure, others are starting from a low digital base.

This year, 2,677 teaching staff from 14 universities took part in our digital experience insights survey. The survey was conducted between October 2019 and July 2020. 48% of the data for this survey was collected after the lockdown on 23 March in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

It is good to see that 95% of teaching staff have a positive attitude to using technology and that a large majority (79%) are motivated to use it in their teaching, but the report also highlights some key challenges:

  • Strategic leadership is vital in driving digital transformation
  • More resource is needed to support staff to develop pedagogically informed digital practices
  • The digital environment and infrastructure require further investment

This report shares key findings from the survey together with some early signs of impact and change after lockdown, and our research gathered since. It also highlights resources to support universities and inform the digital practices of the future.

Download the full report (pdf)

Question by question analysis of findings

This report details the full question by question analysis of all survey questions and provides further information about the HE and FE surveys, the methodology, the question sets, response rates and any significant differences in the data gathered before, and on or after 23 March 2020. 

Download the question by question analysis report (pdf).

About the authors

Clare Killen
Clare Killen
Senior consultant

I work in the business intelligence unit at Jisc, primarily on the digital experience insights surveys for students, academic staff and professional services staff. The focus is on supporting members across further and higher education to enrich their student experiences by providing powerful data to inform strategic planning and investment.

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Mark Langer-Crame
Senior data intelligence analyst (team lead), Jisc
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Samantha Penrice
Data scientist, Jisc
I provide data science capabilities to multiple teams in Jisc’s data and analytics directorate, including the development of machine learning algorithms and natural language processing.